Steven Gordon Holman
A modern pioneer, Steven Gordon Holman blends the stories, materials and experiences particular to Utah’s Western Desert, where he grew up, with the urban narrative of a young adulthood spent living in the eastern United States. He joins creation myths of the indigenous Native American and Norse cultures of his regional roots, legends passed down from the area’s first white settlers, personal family lore, and parkers of contemporary pop culture to fabricate powerful, talismanic jewelry.
Substantial and ceremonial, Holman’s work “vibrates between aesthetic adornment and ritualistic meaning,” combining natural substances such as wood, geodes, antlers, skull bones, rabbit ears or potatoes with synthetics found in sporting goods and farm stores. He makes imposing artifacts – for our time – that connect us to the rural past, along with our more primal instincts.
Holman holds a BA with honors from Brown University of visual art and architectural studies and MFA in metals from SUNY New Paltz. His work has been included in Talente, Munich (2014) and Staring: In Hindsight, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich (2014). He has been featured in Current Obsession, Remix, Vogue Russia and Oyster. In 2013 he received the Finlandia Foundation National Cultural Grant for research in Northern Europe. His jewelry is in the collections of the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz, NY and Brown University Creative Arts Council Collection, Providence, RI, as well as several prominent private collections. Holman is currently on the faculty of Rhode Island School of Design.
